Professional Correspondence: Memos & Formal Emails

veuillez: the formal imperative of vouloir

veuillez is the irregular formal imperative of vouloir, used almost exclusively in written correspondence to mean 'please' in a more elevated register than s'il vous plaît — veuillez + infinitive is the standard opener for a polite instruction or request in an email or memo. Using s'il vous plaît instead in a formal letter isn't wrong, but veuillez signals a more official, distanced tone. Malayalam official correspondence reaches for a comparable elevated register — ദയവായി (dayavaayi, 'please') is fine in an everyday request, but a formal office or government letter prefers phrasing like ദയവായി ചെയ്യണമെന്ന് അഭ്യർത്ഥിക്കുന്നു ('it is requested that you kindly...'), which reads noticeably more formal and distanced than a plain ദയവായി ചെയ്യുക.